Resuming surveillance: The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on Monday gave the National Security Agency the green light to resume its once-secret program that collects records of Americans’ domestic phone calls, The New York Times reports. The program was halted on June 1, when Section 215 of the U.S.A. Patriot Act expired. But Congress passed the U.S.A. Freedom Act on June 2, which permits the NSA’s bulk collection of phone records for six months. The Washington Post has more on the FISA court ruling here.
Strike two: A second jury in Iowa has rejected claims that officials at the University of Iowa College of Law discriminated against a former part-time legal writing instructor because of her conservative views. “The jurors on Monday found that former dean Carolyn Jones did not violate Teresa Manning’s First Amendment and due-process rights in declining to make her a full-time instructor in 2007,” Karen Sloan reports. Manning originally sued the school in 2009 for allegedly hiring instructors with less experience but who fit the liberal profile of the college’s faculty.
Ferguson revisited: The Department of Justice released part of a report Tuesday that found that police used unconstitutional tactics to suppress protestors in the Ferguson area last August. The report found that officials’ tactics were “deeply flawed and oppressive of citizens exercising their constitutional rights” after the death of Michael Brown, who was shot and killed by police officer Darren Wilson. The Justice Department plans to release the full 200-page report in the coming weeks.
Drug money: The U.S. government says that Novartis AG, a Swiss drugmaker, should pay up to $3.35 billion in damages and civil fines for using kickbacks to boost sales of two drugs covered by Medicare and Medicaid. The feds filed suit in Manhattan federal court Monday, arguing that they deserve that sum under the federal False Claims Act over alleged reimbursements for Exjade, used by patients for reducing excess iron in patients who undergo blood transfusions, and Myfortic, for patients with kidney transplants. “The government is seeking up to $1.52 billion in damages, representing triple the sums allegedly reimbursed and tainted by kickbacks between 2004 and 2013,” Reuters reports.
